16 December 1971… This is the date, which witnessed the history of India becoming a regional superpower and the birth of a new country… Bangladesh. Today, India is celebrating it as “Victory Parv” on the completion of 50 years of the 1971 war with Pakistan. There is a picture of December 16, 1971, which is very popular, in which a Pakistani general is sitting with the General of the Indian Army and signing the surrender document. This was the time when the Pakistani army surrendered after 13 days of war fought on every front in front of the army of India and Muktiwahini.
When did the exercise of making Bangladesh start and how it was completed, this is a very big topic, for which we will have to turn the pages of history with great detail, but today we will talk, only that picture, whose Before it was taken or what was the whole story behind the incident which is being shown in that picture.
Till the morning of 16 December following talks between the top leadership of the two armies, there was firing from both India and Pakistan in the city of Dhaka in then East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh). Dhaka, hearing the sound of firing early in the morning, was on its way to become the capital of a new country by evening.
On the morning of 16 December, General Manekshaw instructed General JFR Jacob to go to Dhaka and prepare for surrender upon reaching there. As soon as General Jacob reached Dhaka, the Pakistani army had sent one of its brigadiers with a car to take him there.
Only 30 minutes given to think about surrender
Sitting in this, General Jacob approached General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, who was commanding the Eastern Command of the Pakistani Army in Dhaka. As soon as General Jacob reached General Niazi’s room, there was already Major General Gandharva Nagra of the Indian Army, who had already reached Niazi with information about his surrender.
When General Jacob reached there and read out the surrender proposal in front of everyone, General Niazi immediately said who said that we are going to surrender. You have come here only for a ceasefire. There was a long debate on both sides about this and in the meantime General Jacob took Niazi to a corner and explained that this is a very good proposal and there can be no better proposal than this.
The Indian General finally said that I give you 30 minutes to think and if you do not obey, then I cannot guarantee you and your family safety. At the same time he also said that I will order to bomb Dhaka again, that is, the war will start again.
Saying this, General Jacob came out of that room, but inside, he thought what I had said. The reason for this is explained in detail by General Jacob in his autobiography ‘An Odyssey in War and Peace’.
Actually at that time more than 26 thousand soldiers of Pakistan were present in Dhaka and India had only 3000 soldiers and they were about 30 miles away from there. General Jacob wrote in the book, “I have nothing at hand.”
Tears welled up in General Niazi’s eyes
However, it was in this understanding that the half-hour given by General Jacob had been completed. When Jacob returned to the same room, he saw that there was silence in the whole room and the surrender proposal was placed on the table in front. He asked General Niazi, do you accept it. There was no response from Niazi.
General Jacob tells in his book that I asked him this thrice, but he did not answer even once. Then I raised that offer and said “I’m going to assume you accept it.”
General Jacob had so much to say that tears started flowing from General Niazi’s eyes. However, General Niazi did not agree to the fact that the surrender should be in front of the general public, which was to be held at the Race Course ground shortly from now and for this General Jagjit Singh Arora from India, arriving there shortly from now. were supposed.
Despite these conditions, General Jacob himself allowed Pakistani soldiers to keep their weapons for self-defense. But now the question was arising that for what would General Niazi surrender?
According to the BBC report, Major General Gandharva Nagra told that I told Niazi that you surrender a sword, but he said that there is no custom of holding a sword in the Pakistani army. He then advised Niazi that you should put a pistol and take off the same pistol at the time of surrender.
After this, at around four in the evening, General Jacob and General Niazi reached Dhaka airport to receive General Jagjit Singh Arora, who was coming to take the surrender, and then from there the whole convoy proceeded towards the race course.
General Niazi became emotional even after surrender
According to the BBC, upon reaching there, General Arora and Niazi sat in front of a table and Niazi first signed the surrender documents, but he did not sign it and he only wrote his name on it like this, “AA’s Nia.” However, later at the behest of Indian officials, he wrote down his full name and took out his pistol and handed it over to General Arora. During this time again, tears were flowing from the eyes of General Niazi. This entire program was over in just 15 minutes.
Now coming to the same picture of this program, which we are mentioning above. The same picture when General Niazi, sitting next to General Arora, was signing the surrender documents with a very sad heart for the surrender of himself and his army. After this, a cordon was made around General Niazi and then he was taken to a safe place in a jeep of the Indian Army.
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